Gainsborough Old Hall, The Moon, and the Red Arrows (And some knitted churches)

One of the things I wanted to see while we were in Lincolnshire was artist Luke Jerram's  'Museum of the Moon' , which is a  1:500,000 scale representation of the Moon, 7 metres in diameter, made using NASA imagery of the Moon's surface.

Luke Jerram's 'The Museum of the Moon'

It's rather impressive, although it must be even more so when presented in some of the other venues it has visited, such as Tintern Abbey and Liverpool Cathedral ! But  I was happy to have seen it! 

We also looked around the rest of the museum, which has various Roman and Viking artefacts discovered in the locality, and more up to date exhibits, including a Robot guide , which,  in response to  opinions chosen form its touch-screen, will lead museum visitors to a particular exhibit and provide information about it.

Lindsey the Robot

 After a visit to a second hand bookshop (always a high point for my family!) we the went to Sleaford, where we spent some time visiting a watermill and going for a walk by the river, where we found lots of adorable ducklings. I also spotted a water rat!.

We also went to the National Centre for Craft and Design, which was, we found, between exhibitions, but did have a small collection of knitted churches, which were rather appealing.

The knitted churches are a community project called 'Woolly Spires', which was based on the fact that the building of many of the impressive churches in Lincolnshire was funded by wealthy land owners who make their fortunes wholly or in part by wool, from a local breed, the Lincoln Long Wool. The models were made from that same wool, and are of local churches, and were knitted by groups of people from the respective parishes.

The following day, we went to  Gainsborough, to visit Gainsborough Old Hall, a wonderful survival of a medieval manor house

It was built in 1460, and was sold once, in 1596, then remained in the same family until it was given to English Heritage in the 1970s!  

It was visited by Richard III in 1483, and later by Henry VIII, (together with his 5th wife, Katherine Howard), in 1541. It also has connection with the Mayflower pilgrims, as the Hickman family, the second to own the hall, included Puritans and was a base for the Separatists, who went on to become the Mayflower pilgrims. 

The Great Hall - Gainsborough Old Hall

The Hall remains largely unchanged, and includes the magnificent Great Hall (where, while we were visiting, there was a school group enjoying dressing up and re-enacting a Tudor Royal visit) . There are also rooms with original panelling,and huge and very impressive kitchens. 

It's a stunning place, and I am surprised it isn't better known.

It was our last touristy outing, but not the last event of stay. 

The cottage we rented was very close to RAF Scampton, which is the home of the Red Arrows. 

While they clearly had some time off over the Easter weekend, they were back again, and rehearsing their performances, for the final 4 days of our break, which meant that we had a front row seat to watch their displays, from the kitchen window of the cottage.!



I imagine that permanent residents may find them rather noisy neighbours, but as visitors, they certianly added to our trip!